For the love of God


I do not seek a lover
To settle down,
But to quench my thirst before
I move to another.
My heart is an empty mihrab
Lusting for the sun as he throws off his night clothes
And rises to hear the muezzin’s prayer.
I steal my way to the mosque not to pray
But to watch him in whose beauty
I am lost.
I hold the book, with jasmines among its pages
Pressed, to smell his fragrance.
Light laughs among the branches, even his mocking
Makes me shiver.
What is this pain that only increases my desire?
Satan wants me, and I want God
What is this desire where no one gets what he loves?
I slept one night with darkness, and darkness now wants as her cost
My soul.
Let her wait in the tavern, I shall not come.
What was that night when I made love to darkness as a man on his bridal night
But saw in her eyes only my absconding God?
Who shall love me and not be scalded?
Who shall marry me and not have to share me with another?
What is this wedding when I give vows to one, and am faithful to another?
What is this Faith that has made me an infidel?
Tell me, Fire, before whom I walk seven times
What is this wedding when I am married to one and betrothed to another?
What is this love where I have broken all idols to worship an idol in a mosque?
People say I am a kafir, let them say what they want.
I am an infidel for God, let them say what they want.
If they stone me it will not be so pleasing as when they cut to pieces
A better man than me.
Mansur met his lover at the executioner’s axe
Let me at least get an ill reputation for the sake of God.

April 27th, 2008

Scio Amo